Reversal on Schengen is populism

The EU's interior ministers agreed on a reform of the rules governing the Schengen zone at a meeting on Thursday in Luxembourg. Under the new regulations EU states will be able to reintroduce border controls for a maximum of two years under exceptional circumstances. The liberal daily Kurier says the decision is populist and reactionary: "We can already guess what the 'exceptional circumstances' will be: national elections. Because the fear of the unfamiliar is still the most powerful argument in boorish election campaigns. Yet the borderless Eurozone was one of the most valuable and visible achievements of the EU. What seems particularly bizarre about this boundary reform is the fact the EU states supposedly want further integration. … Germany's Chancellor Merkel talks of a two-speed Europe. … But looking at Schengen you can't shake the feeling that the two speeds in question are one going forwards and one going backwards."

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